Stay on target

Not too long ago I got a code for the new mobile game Remedy Rush, the latest game from awesome Chicago-based indie developer Whitaker Trebella. From Pivvot to Piloteer, I’ve been a fan of Trebella’s work for years now, and Remedy Rush’s hook sounded strong enough to make up for it being his first free-to-play game. You play a cure fighting diseases in a human body. It’s like Fantastic Voyage or Osmosis Jones with slightly less Bill Murray, which is still great!

After playing Remedy Rush, I still think it’s a cool game folks should check out, but it was disappointing to me for a pretty personal reason. The game’s random, deadly, dungeon crawler formula gives it much in common with the roguelike genre. And that’s a genre I just can’t stand. But as more and more games adopt these elements, games like Remedy Rush that are absolutely worth recommending, I’ve accepted that roguelikes just aren’t for me. And that’s okay.

Unfortunately, I had to discover this the hard way. In 2009 I was reviewed the mobile port of Sword of Fargoal. At the time, I didn’t know what roguelikes even were, let alone that this was a classic of the genre. To me, this was just some weird, dated RPG that wasn’t fun and seemed allergic to progress, and I rated it accordingly. But commenters weren’t too happy about my low score. I was still new at reviewing games, I could have done more research, and I raised the score after later updates made the game more approachable. However, I stand my original critical thoughts. This was my first time being yelled at on forums for expressing my honest opinion on a game. It’s pretty wild.

What is a roguelike? Literally, it’s a game that’s like Rogue, a classic 1980 PC role-playing game about armed explorers crawling through randomized dungeons where progress is totally reset whenever you die. Why don’t I like roguelikes? Basically, every staple of the genre doesn’t jive with my personal taste in gaming. I’m not the biggest RPG fan, no matter what region they come from. I prefer a finite amount of crafted levels rather than randomized elements stretched out forever by an algorithm. And since I hate losing progress in a game and save as frequently as possible, I think permanent death is the single worst video game mechanic. Fire Emblem is balanced around permanent death, but there’s a reason the series didn’t break through until after it made the punishing feature optional.

Like some kind of cosmic joke, since my first encounter with roguelikes in 2009, the genre’s popularity has exploded. Spelunky, Don’t Starve, Downwell, Rogue Legacy, FTL, Galak-Z, Nuclear Throne, Darkest Dungeon, Invisible Inc. Not only do these all have roguelike DNA, but they are also all pretty acclaimed. One of the games at the Nintendo Switch event that everyone but me enjoyed was upcoming roguelike Has-Been Heroes.

When making an indie game, looking to roguelikes for inspiration makes some sense. It’s a good way to make your game with cool mechanics but limited development resources last longer. See also, survival/crafting games. However, I’d argue the Souls series is also a part of this roguelike boom. I dislike those games and their fetish for difficulty through obtuse controls for the same reasons, but they are definitely a lot bigger than indie games.

Fortunately, these neo-roguelikes aren’t just using the formula but evolving it as well with ideas from other game genres. Crypt of the NecroDancer and The Binding of Isaac may both feel like roguelikes, but one has players defeating monsters through dancing, and the other is a biblical dual-stick shooter where you shoot tears to kill demons and return to your mother’s womb. In general, these games have also been moving away from discouraging players with harsh death mechanics towards encouraging players to find secrets by mastering mechanics and repeating runs. They’re more palatable. I still don’t like these games, but I understand their appeal more.

Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter what I think. Some people like roguelikes, I’ve accepted I don’t, and that’s okay. I never really want to play Sword of Fargoal again, but after talking with the creator Jeff McCord I think he’s a cool dude and a good game designer. And honestly, there are so many good games these days; it’s kind of nice being able to write off a whole genre and free up time for games I actually want to play.

If you like roguelikes or think you would, by all means, download Remedy Rush and any other game in the genre. But I know myself well enough to recognize I’m probably done with them. It’s not you, roguelikes, it’s me.